Travel Update : 3 March 2020 COVID-19

Friday, 6 March 2020

6 March 2020

Dear Members,

Kindly be informed that MATTA received email on Travel Update on COVID-19 from The European Travel Agents' and Tour Operators' Associations (ECTAA) specifically on the situation in Europe, amongst others, as below:

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) raised the level of risk of transmission of the Covid-19 virus from “moderate to high” on Monday 2 March.

The European Commission, too, has raised its alert level: according to the President of the European institution, Ursula von der Leyen, no fewer than five Commissioners will now work closely together on a European response to this epidemic. At this stage, the European Commission is advocating that the health measures taken to contain the epidemic should be limited to minimise travel disruption. Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni noted that the downside risk posed by the coronavirus outbreak is materialising and “it has become clear the impact is going to be significant”. He cited the tourism, transport, automotive and general supply chain sectors as being most affected. However, “it’s still too soon to measure” the impact of this epidemic on the European economy.